The pandemic continues to affect our lives every day and in about every way.
The number of cases of the coronavirus has continued to rise in Canadian County in recent days. Lives, health, schools and the economy continue to take top priority in news coverage and in all things related to COVID-19 and the pandemic. We make adjustments daily.
Plans change too quickly.
We have come to expect cancellations. It seemed impossible that the Yukon Czech Festival would not happen this year when that was announced.
Another cancellation caught my attention this week. The State Fair of Texas is canceled for 2020.
Last week ,the Oklahoma State Fair was canceled for 2020.
The Canadian County Free Fair is still on for now and the official fair guides were delivered this week to The Yukon Progress office.
The August fair in El Reno could be canceled too.
The State Fair of Texas cancellation is a hard one to take because I have been fortunate to attend at least 16 of the Texas State Fair Saturdays for OU football games, 12 of those with my late father Bob Medley Sr. , OU graduate, 1960.
I have in my collection of old records the 1963 Capitol Records album, “Hank Thompson and The Brazos Valley Boys at The State Fair of Texas.”
Live recordings had not really started happening in the world of music yet. But the Hank Thompson show was recorded along with part of the Texas-OU game that year. A Lance Rentzel touchdown for OU is forever captured on audio from the sidelines as Rentzel hauls in a pass from quarterback Ron Fletcher.
Ken Nelson, late Capitol Records producer , told me in a 1990 interview that the recording was made by placing a reel-to-reel recorder with a microphone in a small red wagon and it was pulled around the fairgrounds. The voice of Big Tex introduced Hank Thompson as Hank kicked it off with “Deep in The Heart of Texas.”
It is hard to imagine no talking Big Tex this year. Whether there is a college football game is not known. Keep following the sports news.
Another change this year has been with Girl Scout cookies.
A pandemic is not the best time to sell anything door-to-door or to greet the public outside a grocery store.
According to a news release from Girl Scouts Western Oklahoma, the annual sales changed this year when the pandemic interrupted.
Shannon Evers, CEO of Girl Scouts Western Oklahoma, said in a news release that the cookie-selling season was cut short by COVID-19.
Boot Barn locations will offer some upcoming drive-thru events to help the cookie sales.
The Do-Si-Do Drive-Thru will offer Girl Scout Cookie sales from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., July 17-18 at four Oklahoma Boot Barn locations, two in the Yukon area.
“Although our usual cookie selling season was cut short this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the community can still purchase cookies in support of local girls’ leadership and educational opportunities,” said Evers, CEO of Girl Scouts Western Oklahoma.
“Through Cookie Sales, girls learn goal Setting, decision making, money management, people skills & business ethics. These are skills girls will need in a post-COVID-19 economy, so we’re asking the public to support us through this cookie sale.”
The Book Barn locations where the sales will happen include 812 S Meridian Ave. and 2358 W Memorial Road, Oklahoma City. The Boot Barn stores in Norman and Lawton are also participating.
The Girl Scouts will not participate in handing out cookie orders to limit the potential for virus exposure, and adult volunteers at the drive thru event will wear masks.
To minimize public contact, shoppers can pre-print their own cookie order forms at http://www.gswestok.org and place the form on their cars, the release states.
I hope including this information here helps the Girl Scouts’ cookies sales this year. I know I have depleted our home supply, the chocolate thin mints. They are gone for now.
Visit the state parks and lakes.
As the pandemic continues to affect what businesses are open or events are still on, remember state parks and lakes are open.
Email your story ideas to Robert Medley, cancountynewsman@gmail.com
